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Replies to: What is a good amount of volunteer/community service hours to have?

ilike-It's not about the number of hours at all. It's about investing your passion in an activity that enriches those around you in some way over a substantial period of time. The more creative the better.

okay that's true.. but in all reality, there is a "good" number of hours.

-i have fed poor people @ a church
-i have planted trees at a park as well as cut out invasive species
-i create events where the community can participate in (Im a leader)
-sorted food at a Hopelink facility (place that helps poor people)
- organized paper there

and maybe some more...

I think that is creative.. maybe a little more diveristy and I should be fine with that factor. but i want to know what is a "good" amount of hours?

LOL-It's best if these activities extend over a period of years and it's better yet if they reflect the same passions you talk about in your essays. You want a "coherent" application rather than a bunch of diverse, scattered, activities.

I agree completely with tokdoc. I had only about 20 hours. They don't care about the number of hours, rather what you learned from them and what this his taught you to prepare you for your future. Even though I didn't have many opportunities to do community service, I well represented what I learned from them and how they helped me grow as a person, while at the same time helping others. If community service is a huge part of your life, write your essay about it, if it is really a passion of yours, and it will show.

Yeah.. I actually do think that doing community service has impacted my life in ways that other things could never do. I feel like I should do more hours though, like I'm obligated... I guess I'll keep doing more but I won't kill myself trying to get more and more...

tokdoc is right. when talking about your activities, UW's app gives a lot of room for you to explain. I mean +100hrs is great but what makes it impressive is when you can genuinely talk about why you did that, which definitely helps if you're passionate about it.

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